Bound to Collide
by Wingren
Summary: Tony comes out of the closet after Loki saves his life, literally and metaphorically. Alliances are made, enemies fought, and in the meanwhile, Bruce Banner gets some life-saving puppies. And as it happens, nothing ends up as expected, especially when a certain God of Mischief is involved.
1. Pilot

A huge thank you goes out to my lovely beta-reader archangelraphaelsdaughter for improving this story like no one else could have.

**Chapter One**

**Pilot**

The closet was a tight fit. Tony pulled his knees to his chest and thought about a possible escape plan, trying to put his thoughts in order. He was sitting in a small cabinet underneath a desk, taking shelter from the cries of some freaky alien. Not crazy at all, right? He could call for JARVIS to do something, anything, but speaking up was basically the same as asking the spider-like thing to come in. Tony could also just wait for the rest of the Avengers to arrive, but where's the point in that? He wasn't some damsel that needed to be rescued.

He put his hands over his ears again to reduce the volume of the creature's loud yell. The only thing the engineer could do now was look for anything useful inside his small shelter. There seemed to be some old tools at his feet, but he would need more time to work them into something useful.

A low, trembling sound was added to the high-pitched scream and filled the space around him. "Tony Stark," the air seemed to whisper. It sounded like the voice, or whatever it was, knew the words and what they stood for, but not the pronunciation. "Tony Stark," it repeated. "We know you are there."

**- Thirty minutes earlier –**

It had been four weeks since New York had been attacked. Or rather, since the large city had fallen victim to Loki Laufeyson's attempt to conquer the world. The head of Stark Industries lay comfortably on his sofa, remembering how stars and planets had looked while he fell through the now long closed portal. He had nearly completely rebuilt Stark Tower but didn't visit much anymore. He didn't want to remember how the outrageously intimidating Loki had looked, or the fall from the window. The place only held bad memories now.

"JARVIS," Tony breathed out, "Order some pizza for me, will you?"

"Of course, sir. Do you have any preference on the kind?" the artificial voice replied.

Tony shrugged and put his hands behind his head. "Surprise me, J."

"Already done, sir."

Tony relaxed with that settled. He hadn't had a good night sleep in a long time. Well, he had never had a habit of sleeping for a long period, yet in the short hours he forced himself to lie down, he could rarely close an eye lately. He blamed it on the nightmares. Tony pondered about whether or not he should call Pepper to tell her about his opinion on the matter, or maybe just to hear her voice. Even though they separated a week ago, he really missed her. _It was probably for the best,_ he kept telling himself. They had parted as friends and Pep had made some very fair points. She didn't want to have to wait for news while Tony was out, fighting, helping, or just hiding. Sitting at home and waiting for news, waiting to hear if he was okay.

_Loki, laughing. Tony's lungs craving for air where there was plenty. Falling. Screaming for JARVIS, Pepper, the team – even for Loki, up above. Anyone. But no help came._

_He woke up yelling - screaming - for help. Blinking his eyes fiercely he looked for Pepper, sweet Pepper, but the bed was empty. She was gone._

He shook his head to get rid of the nightmare when an unfamiliar sound reached the billionaire's ears. Usually, when in his Malibu mansion, the only things the billionaire heard were the tide, AC/DC, and Pepper occasionally complaining about how he threw his dirty workshop clothes in inconvenient places. Now, something disturbed the soothing sounds of the ocean and he sat up to figure out what the fuck that high-pitched noise had been. JARVIS was faster.

"Sir, an unidentified entity has just materialized in your workshop. Quick external scans show that the creature's body works similar to the Chitauri and it uses their technology. Further analysis required."

Tony stared at the nothing particular for a brief second. Could he get no damn peace? No, shit needs to hit the fan at least once a month for Tony Stark.

"Alright, initiate lockdown. We don't want it to get out of here." Panels started sliding down to cover the windows.

The noise he heard earlier grew stronger. It could be compared to the sound of nails being dragged over a chalkboard, but it was as if it twisted in the air and whispered words in a trembling voice.

"J, what is that noise? Can you tell me anything about it?"

"The wavelengths damage my sensors, sir. I can hardly create an image of the creature."

A screen popped up in front of him, vaguely showing the contours of something big that was waving its head - or tail - around as it created those terrible noises.

Tony sighed, his mind running in circles.

There was an alien in his house. One similar to the ones the Avengers had to fight in order to save their planet. What the hell was it doing here? Was it looking for something? For him? The Chitauri had literally fallen when their mothership exploded and Tony figured there had to be someone or something on that ship that powered them, or at least controlled them. Which would imply that all of the space-soldiers would have died that day.

So much for that theory.

He had so many questions already.

"JARVIS, start coding a defense system against those screams and reduce microphone sensitivity to 20%, except for the ones closest to me. We'll work out what this is when it's done and over with."

The Iron Man cursed. Having brought all his suits down to his workshop for inspection he couldn't just suit up. If he wanted his Iron Man package, he would run right into the creature's waiting arms.

He could at least take a look at the creature to get an idea of how serious this was. Taking off his shoes, because Tony knew how loud his footsteps sounded in comparison to others, he sneaked down the stairs that led to his workshop. Now he stood in front of the glass door to his favourite place to be, that looked to have been redecorated by the theme 'Struck-by-a-tornado'.

Oh, this was definitely serious.

"JARVIS, call the Avengers HQ and open all transmission lines, but turn off the coms in my workshop and reduce the volume of that thing's scream to 5%. Oh, and add Nick Fury to the conversation, if you can get hold of him." As much as he disliked including the director in things like this, Tony felt that Fury would want to be involved.

"Done, sir."

Tony looked at the creature, shocked. It stood there, or sat - or whatever it was doing - like it was unsure of how it got there, with its back turned to Tony. Its body looked like a miniature version of one of those ships Loki had brought into this world. The big ones that seemed to swim through the air with their freaky snake-like bodies. The example in front of Tony was the size of a small elephant and it had legs. They looked a bit like spider-legs, but there were only four of them, and the damned things seemed like they were made out some strange version of plastic, with crab-like claws.

It looked a bit like a giant, mutated lobster.

The human really didn't like lobsters, or spiders. Or aliens for that matter, though that didn't count for Thor. He didn't really think of Thor as an alien anymore, either way.

Steve Roger's voice interrupted his train of thought.

_"Tony? What's going on?"_

Trying to put his thoughts in order, Tony wondered how he was going to explain this one.

"Um, hey, guys. So, there's this alien in my basement-"

Nick Fury's sigh stopped him mid-sentence. That man had no patience whatsoever. _"Mr. Stark, I'm really not in the mood for your childish games. Cut to the point."_

Quietly walking back upstairs, Tony pulled up some screens that showed his friends. Annoyance, curiosity and worry were written all over their faces, not in that particular order. And then there was Fury, whose face showed zero emotion. And an eyepatch. The engineer asked JARVIS to send them camera footage and records of the creature (JARVIS had figured out a way to make the image sharper and with less static) and soon they were all up-to-date.

"All right guys, I'm going in." Angry comments from all around. Tony caught something about 'no boundaries' or 'self-preservation', and Clint letting them know he was getting the popcorn.

"Self preservation? What's it gonna do, yell at me? I have other people for that," Tony said. He suggestively glanced in Fury's direction.

Steve was the first to really object. _"Do you want to get yourself killed? We're on our way. Just sit it out."_

_"Yeah, maybe it's not so bad to just…wait until we're there. Not as if I'm so much help, but it would make me feel a lot better,"_ Bruce stated, uncomfortably. Tony believed Banner, but he also knew that the guy had an incredible amount of self-control and could handle himself perfectly. He wouldn't Hulk out just because of something like this. The engineer had spent a lot of time with Banner in labs and workshops and it was safe to say that they trusted each other in situations like this.

_"He's not a kid anymore. Let him have some fun,"_ Natasha snorted.

"Thank you, agent Romanoff."

_"I wasn't giving you a compliment."_

"Yeah well, and I wasn't-"

_"Mr. Stark,"_ Fury had been silent through the whole thing. Sitting there and thinking about a plan, possibly. Or just entertaining himself by listening to the team and their almost childish bickering. _"I would really love it if you could just, for _once_, listen to the wise words of the team here. I think we both know that you have no idea what you're doing."_

Tony scowled. "And I would really love some pizza right now. I guess we both don't get what we want. Where is that pizza delivery boy when you need him, anyway?"

It was a rhetorical question, but JARVIS would've answered it either way. "I canceled the order when the extraterrestrial appeared, sir. Do you want me to place a new one?"

"Oh. No, I don't think I'll be having time for pizza now, Jarv."

And with that, Tony ignored their protests, walked downstairs nonchalantly and raised his hand to type in the code that opened the doors. Screw Fury. He knew exactly what he was doing. He would get in there and _kick ass_.

**-x-**

As soon as the doors opened, Tony fell to his knees, covering his ears with his hands. The noise was way louder in here. He couldn't even hear his own thoughts clearly anymore, except for_ fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck_.

Why did he come in here? Blood pumped through his veins, as if it was trying to cut off the high-pitched scream ringing through his head. He tried to stand up, but couldn't even lift his head high enough to look over the desk between him and the foreign creature before sinking to his knees again. Just great. Tony realized he didn't have the energy or concentration to stand up, walk back and close the doors behind him. New plan?

Looking around, he spotted an old closet under his desk to the right. The engineer crawled over. A million voices pierced his body, making it hard to think straight. He reached up and opened the cabinet, forcing himself into the small shelter. Right before he closed the opening, he glanced towards the creature.

Tony froze.

It was looking right at him.

Its mouth wide open, big black eyes staring through him. The human had to compare them with two dark holes, and then noticed it was moving slowly in Tony's direction. Its face looked strangely human, only with the wrong proportions, and the wrong colours.

He forced himself to close the doors and relax a bit. The closet was a tight fit. Tony pulled his knees to his chest and thought about a possible escape plan. He could call for JARVIS to do something, anything, but that would give away his position to the fucking alien outside of the dark hiding-place. Even though it already knew where Tony was, speaking up was basically the same as asking the spider-like thing to come in. He could also just wait for the team to arrive, but where's the point in that? He wasn't some damsel that needed to be rescued.

He put his hands over his ears again to reduce the volume of the creature's loud yell. The only thing the engineer could do now was look for anything useful inside his small shelter. There seemed to be some old tools at his feet, but he would need more time to work them into something useful.

A low, trembling sound was added to the high-pitched scream and filled the space around him. "Tony Stark," the air seemed to whisper. It sounded like the voice, or whatever it was, knew the words and what they stood for, but not the pronunciation. "Tony Stark," it repeated. "We know you are there."

Tony breathed heavily, trying to get his thoughts in order. What the hell did the creature want from him?

An unexpected, hateful laugh interrupted the cries, and they stopped suddenly. Tony knew that laugh. It would haunt him in his dreams. He took his hands off his ears when there was only silence around him. Maybe he'd gone deaf. "It is nice to hear of you and your ever intimidating voices," a man spoke. No, definitely not deaf. Or maybe just deaf and crazy. _What the hell is he doing here?_ Tony thought, panicking even more. He listened carefully as Loki's voice moved around the room. "Yet I did not wish to hear them coming from Midgard."

"We did not come for you this time, Loki," the thousand voices replied. The screaming seemed to be left behind.

"I am aware."

"Then why have you come? Surely, you do not care about the fate of any particular mortal thing. Especially humans." Slowly but steadily, high-pitched tones were added to the voices as they spoke. _They seem to depend on the creature's emotions,_ Tony mused.

"I worry little about these creatures. As should you," Loki said. The little bit of relief Tony had felt when Loki had joined the party disappeared, and he felt somewhat stupid for hoping. The deity obviously wouldn't care for Earth or humans.

"I do not either," the voices agreed. "And I did not come for any other of Earth's inhabitants, except for the obvious."

Tony frowned. What was obvious? Was _he_ 'the obvious'? What he was was _obviously_ missing the point here.

"Is it yet another piece of your game?" Loki asked.

The voices hissed, still screaming in high-pitched tones and an unknown languages.

The god stayed silent for a few moments. "I see. It is an act of a dying race. A desperate one," he continued. Tony could imagine Loki grinning at the beast, or even smiling at it in his little smug way.

"Would that make a difference?"

"Ah, yes. I dare say this was an ill-advised move."

"Do you question my motives, Odinson?"

Loki hissed at the question and/or the use of his last name, the human didn't know. "I reckon you lack enough of a brain to think about those," the god scoffed. Tony snorted. It wasn't a first-class burn, but it was more than he'd expected from the God of Mischief.

The creature certainly didn't like it, the human could tell. The noises were now louder than ever before and Tony pressed his palms to his ears again, biting his tongue in pain and pressing his eyes shut as a bright white light shone everywhere around him. It took a few seconds for it to fade away, taking colour and sound with it. Leaving nothing but pitch-black and silence.


	2. A White-hot Mess

**Chapter Two**

**A White-Hot Mess**

Tony Stark now sat in his little closet in the dark. A few seconds passed and he contemplated whether or not he should stay hidden or open the closet door and crawl out.

"Stay hidden? This is _my_ house. They should hide from _me," _he muttered, startled at the sound of his own voice. He kicked the door reluctantly and it flew open. Tony crawled out trying to keep his dignity, but seeing as he was trying to get out of a small closet in the dark while cursing and hitting his head several times there wasn't much left of that anyway.

"JARVIS, hit the lights," he sighed, getting up. "Is the lobster gone?"

Lights flicked on. The room's furniture was in pure chaos, but seemed empty at first glance. "The extraterrestrial entity damaged most of my sensors using particular wavelengths, sir, but it seems that way."

"Yeah, but how?"

"Technology unknown to mankind as of yet, sir. It emitted energy I'm unable to register with what you equipped me with." The British voice sounded almost distraught.

Tony opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted.

"Of course your _human _machines cannot register it." Loki stood up from behind a workbench and his face looked like he wanted to raise his eyebrows and say_ duh_.

So he was still here, too.

Tony tensed up immediately and clenched his fists to keep his hands from trembling, taking a few steps back while staring at the god. Seeing him in person was way different than hearing him from inside a closet. Tony hadn't forgotten the last encounter he had with Loki (Hint: it ended up with him being thrown out of a window.). The man from his nightmares was standing right in front of him. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Loki's sheer presence gave him the urge to suit up and fly the hell away. Really, he wished he could repress his fear and offer Loki a drink again.

While looking around for some sort of weapon – could he defeat the God of Mischief with a screwdriver? – Tony couldn't help but notice how bad Loki looked. The god could barely stand up straight, leaning on the workbench he was standing behind and his face looked pale. Even looking like shit, he still gave the impression that he was at home here, turning his head around, showing a certain interest in the machines around him.

The human blinked a few times before he could breathe normally again, not remembering what the Asgardian had said.

"Of course your human machines cannot register it," Loki repeated, seemingly eager to belittle Earth's technology.

Tony huffed, forcing his body to relax. "And why is that?" he asked.

The god knocked the dust off his clothes and armor. He was 'dressed for battle' but looked incomplete without his usual horned helmet. Loki ignored Tony's question, or maybe he genuinely hadn't heard it. Either way, the human demanded answers, and not just about some alien technology.

"So, eh, thanks for…saving me." Tony started casually. "Why did you, though? Or at least, I assume you did, because that other alien who was here earlier didn't seem that friendly. I mean, you don't seem that friendly either, but since you haven't tried to kill me I'm going to assume you're okay with me being here. Which of course you should be because it is my house after all…" His voice trailed off. Loki was facing the other way now, back turned to Tony, and he showed no interest in him at all. Tony suddenly doubted if the god wouldn't kill him.

"Loki?" The engineer took a few steps in the god's direction and cleared his throat. "Earth to the God of Mischief?" (Yes, Tony had researched some Norse Mythology. Sue him.) Loki's shoulder twitched and Tony reached out with the intent to get the deity's full attention. He swiftly turned around and stared at him, almost belittling him with his eyes.

"I did not save _you_, mortal," he spat, looking surprised at the idea. Loki opened his mouth to hopefully explain further, but his eyes unfocused and seemed to stare at something in the distance. He blinked a few times and Tony jumped back in surprise when Loki disappeared.

Okay, so he didn't save Tony. _Thanks, now I really understand everything._

**-x-**

"Sir, Agent Romanoff and Director Fury are trying break in through the front door. The rest of the team, minus Thor, is waiting for you outside," JARVIS said.

Tony shook his head and frowned. How long had he been staring at the spot Loki disappeared from? "Breaking in? Why doesn't she just use the doorbell?" he mumbled.

"They rang several times, sir, but you were quite occupied." The A.I. sounded somewhat amused.

"Right... And get that smug tone out of your voice." Tony knew he had a lot of work to do and questions that had to be answered. He had to go through the scans and records JARVIS had taken and work out how and when exactly the creature and the god had appeared, and possibly find a way to stop it from happening again. _But for now I'm gonna have to sit down and listen to rants about what a fool I am, _he thought, sighing. The Avengers were great teammates and often even better friends, but they could also go on and on when Tony made a mistake.

He walked back upstairs and opened the doors for his friends and Nick Fury to come in, but no one moved.

"Alright guys, I know I look pretty, but your stares are getting uncomfortable," Tony laughed, with the smile on his face he usually kept for the cameras.

Steve sighed while Fury shook his head and walked in, the rest of the team following him. Bruce smiled reassuringly, and it somewhat calmed Tony down.

Clint bumped him in the shoulder when he walked past him. "So you went on your knees for the alien, huh?"

Tony huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. "You're an idiot." He had forgotten that JARVIS livestreamed the whole thing, meaning that everyone saw what happened. Even the parts Tony couldn't see from his closet.

"Not as big an idiot as you are." Clint winked at him, reducing the insult in his words.

When they were all inside, Tony closed the door and gestured to the couches. He waited for them to position themselves somewhat comfortably and sat down next to Bruce. In the last few weeks, Banner and him had become what one could call friends, or maybe they had just spent enough time in a lab or workshop together for Bruce to stop getting irritated by Tony's endless babbling. Either way, the engineer felt better in the calm presence of him.

"I swear to god, if anyone makes a joke about coming out of the closet..." Tony started.

"What were you thinking, going in like that?" Fury said, suddenly. Apparently he had enough of the silent treatment.

"Hey, no one knew that thing had those strangely paralyzing screams," Bruce said, in defence of Tony.

Steve nodded, but looked torn. "It was still a stupid idea." Tony swore Steve felt obliged to act like his absent father.

"I don't need you to tell me that, Cap. I'm fully capable of judging my own actions, thank you," he replied sarcastically.

"And Loki!" Fury continued, in disbelief.

Tony rubbed his forehead and mentally completely agreed with the director. He had no idea why Loki had appeared there, either. It had seemed like he had some kind of a personal business with the other extraterrestrial. He shrugged, "I've got no idea."

Fury scowled at him. "So you thought, _hey, why don't I just start a casual conversation with the bad guy?_" He mimicked Tony's hand movements and voice mockingly, who threw his hands in the air.

"What would _you_ have done?"

"I would've shot the man!" Fury stated as if it was obvious, and held up his hand to stop Tony from saying something. "Just _don't_ run off on your own again, Stark."

Tony had the urge to stick out his tongue but stopped himself. Instead, he rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Sir, yes, sir. Now if you'll excuse me, I have many things to work on. For instance, trying to stop this from happening here ever again." He stretched his back and stood up, nodding at the worried-looking Steve and started walking towards the stairs, but stopped when Fury called him again.

"One more thing, Stark. Maybe you should stay in New York's tower for the time being."

Tony nodded hesitantly. It was probably a good thing that Pepper wasn't here, or she would've had to deal with all this drama, too. He didn't feel much for sitting in his apartment alone, though. He glanced at Bruce, who understood what he was trying to say and stood up as well. "Uh, maybe I better help Tony with those things."

**-x-**

There wasn't much Tony didn't have at the tower yet so he just packed one of his portable Iron Man suits and put on the bracelets for the one he kept over there. If he put it in his bag he'd probably forget they were there. Bruce told him he could just fly there if he wanted to, but the Iron Man didn't feel much for being alone right now. So they took one of Tony's fancy cars instead.

"Could you go_ any_ faster?" Bruce nearly yelled, looking alarmingly green. Not Hulk-green, of course, but the green that told Tony that if he didn't slow down there was going to be a lot of throwing up.

"Is that a challenge?" Tony said jokingly, looking at the man in the seat next to him while parking the car. Bruce opened the door hastily and threw an angry look at the other man, who was quietly laughing.

Still chuckling, Tony followed his teammate into the building. Bruce was looking a bit better already. They exchanged a few words in the elevator up but it was clear that they were both tired, so when the elevator got to Tony's floor, they both stumbled out and dropped themselves onto a couch. Bruce had been staying here for the past week since this was now unofficially the Avengers HQ – no one had asked for Tony's consent so that still bothered him – but Tony didn't mind.

A puppy came running from behind the corner and Tony jumped up.

"What the hell is that doing here?" he exclaimed, staring at the little fluffy creature while Bruce picked it up and nuzzled it.

"Meet River," Bruce said and he smiled at the little animal in his hands.

Okay, so maybe River was the most adorable little Labrador he'd ever seen, but Tony couldn't have pets in this place. Or yes maybe he could. He couldn't take it away from his friend, could he? It still was a bad idea to keep a pet in here.

"Look, sorry, I shouldn't have brought her in here," Banner continued, petting River enthusiastically but looking a bit guilty.

Tony stared at the little thing, still not answering.

"If you want me to take her away..." the scientist's voice trailed off.

Tony shook his head and put his hands up. He couldn't deal with this right now. "Keep her. But clean all her mess up, 'kay?"

"Thanks, Tony," Bruce said. The look on his face was pure happiness.

A few seconds passed and Tony sat back down, still awkwardly eyeing the golden ball of fluff on his friend's lap. He never had pets when he was little, due to his dad being a massive...-ly unpleasant person. Tony could get used to the happy animal, though.

When he looked up Bruce was looking at him as if he wanted to find an answer written on his forehead.

"What is it?" Tony asked, carefully avoiding eye contact. He expected it to probably be a strange question, judging by the look on his friend's face.

"You promise you didn't know he would come, right?"

Aha. So it was a strange question. _Yeah, Bruce, I knew Loki would come to the rescue. I totally made some deal with a god who is supposed to be in prison in another world_. "Who? Our _favourite _god of mischief?" Tony answered, a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

Bruce opened his mouth to answer when something stopped him.

"Oh, favourite, really?" an all too familiar voice spoke.

Tony stared at Bruce, whose eyes were widened. _Not again, not again, not again, _he repeatedly thought. Please let this be a hallucination. He'd had enough risky encounters for the day. He just wanted to get a good night of sleep. No nightmares, no fears, just some nice memories colouring his dreams. Stress-free.

"Please tell me I made that up," Bruce whispered, holding the puppy close to his chest, while Tony closed his eyes and pinched his nose, replying, 'My thoughts exactly.'

"I'm flattered," Loki continued, "to be the favourite of you _humans_." He spit out the last word. The god ended his sentence with a quiet, mocking chuckle, but not sounding as evil as an enemy should sound for it to be comfortable fighting him.

Jesus fuck. Tony's life was starting to look like some cheap action-packed novel. He wondered if he could represent himself in a biographical movie about the life of Anthony Stark.

The human opened his eyes and looked at his friend. The Hulk was nowhere to be seen, it was just Bruce looking exactly how Tony felt: stressed out, even a little bit afraid. Bruce was one thing Tony wasn't, though, and that was calm.

"Hi," he said, finally looking at the god.

The chaos god smirked at Tony, unimpressed. He was surprised that the smirk didn't fill his mind with fear as it did in his dreams, but maybe that was because the deity in front of him looked even worse than he did before. He looked weary and... drained, as if he had used all his energy for today. Or for a few weeks. The human told himself that Loki looking like shit didn't change a thing, but in fact he wanted to offer his 'enemy' a drink, sit down, and have a talk. So that was what he was going to do.

"JARVIS!" Tony said, raising his voice. He stood up in front of Bruce and waited for the pieces of his suit to come flying towards him. Iron Man wouldn't be unprotected a second time. The noises must have disturbed River, because she jumped out of Bruce's grip and ran back towards the direction she had come from the first time Tony saw her.

Tony Stark, suiting up against someone who looked like he could faint any second.

Loki hissed, his eyes following the movements of the machines around him, latching onto Tony's body. "Your machines could not harm me even if they were laced with magic."

Tony doubted that. The god looked like he could collapse any minute now. He glanced at Bruce, who looked too green for Tony's liking, and was obviously in a fight with his other self. Tony brought a hand up to manually open his headgear.

"Want a drink?" Tony offered, walking up to the bar. With his suit on he was a little more comfortable with turning his back to Loki.

Loki, of course, didn't answer.

"Aren't you supposed to be locked up somewhere?" Tony asked instead, pouring himself a glass of whisky, but never quite drinking from it.

Loki clearly had enough of the small-talk and Tony hoped he would get to the point. "Odin All-father," the god narrowed his eyes at the name, "summoned a very powerful mage." The trickster god was shaking on his legs, and seemed angry about having to educate the man in front of him in what happened. Tony was glad, though, that the rivalry-tone was somewhat gone and they could have a civilized conversation.

Tony shrugged, wanting the god to hurry up. "So what then, they threw a party?"

Loki showed his teeth in a hiss and ignored his questions like he seemed to always do. "There was a spell cast on me, one that nearly stripped me of my powers." Loki appeared strangely ashamed about it. His lips were a thin white line, his green eyes glassy and unfocused.

Tony nodded, that made sense. _Nearly_. Loki still had his voodoo, otherwise the fucker wouldn't be able to appear and disappear anywhere Tony seemed to go. But Loki had made him curious. "So that's why you look like, uh.. shit?" He shrugged, not knowing another way of describing how sick and unstable the god looked.

Loki frowned but nodded. "Yes. I am unable to channel any magic and using what is left tires me greatly. I could not get far if something were to happen," he said, shaking horribly.

_Oh, cry me a river,_ Tony wanted to reply but instead nodded and shifted on his legs. Loki wanted something from him. He wouldn't be here and telling this sob story otherwise, and the human realized how much Loki must've trusted him to tell him that he was basically weak.

Tony was definitely no back-stabber and he wouldn't take advantage of anyone when looking like they were hit by a few busses. And driven over a couple of times with a bulldozer.

Before the billionaire could speak up, the god's eyes rolled back into his skull and he collapsed producing a noise that sounded somewhat like a hiccup.

Instinct took over, causing Tony to leap forward and catch the god before he hit the ground. Realizing who he was holding the mortal shook Loki's grasping hands off his suit's arms. He stared at the god, kneeling next to him. The deity wasn't moving but the human could see the god's chest slowly rising and falling.

"Shit, wake up!" Tony yelled, shaking the god by the shoulders. He didn't want to be stranded with this guy unconscious in his apartment, or worse, dead. He'd wished Loki was gone or dead so many times in his dreams, but it was different now. He took off his gauntlets and laid his hand on the god's forehead. The Asgardian's skin was burning against his hands, yet ice cold at the same time. Loki looked paler than a corpse and felt hotter than a stove. _Fuck_.

Quiet footsteps approached and a hand swiftly touched his armored shoulder. Glad that it was still his colleague and not the ragemonster standing behind him, Tony turned around.

"So," Bruce gritted out, rubbing the back of his head. "What do we do now?"

Always the practical one, that man.


	3. Hitching a Ride

**Chapter Three**

**Hitching a Ride**

Something tickled Loki's foot as he slowly drifted up from the quiet comforts of unconsciousness, beginning to wonder where he was. And more importantly _why_ he was there. Forcing his body to stay still and his face to show no emotion, he focused on sharpening his senses.

A bright yellow light shone through his eyelids, suggesting it was still day on Midgard, or that there was one of those mortal machines above his head, shining an unnaturally bright light. He was laying on something soft and there was a warmth near his left foot.

Loki's body was still tired – though that was an understatement, he thought – and no magic would come to his grasp as he tried to summon it. Everything felt numb.

He suddenly remembered what happened before everything went black. Him going to see Stark to ask about... He shivered. Did he really go to the mortal for help? He could barely stop his body from shivering again when he recalled collapsing in front of the two humans. He was embarrassed with himself. And puzzled, since he also remembered the Iron Man's metal arms catching him before he hit the ground.

He could hear the faint buzzing that always seemed to be here on Midgard. Loki thought it was probably connected to the 'electricity' the humans are so dependent on. Apart from the seemingly usual hums, he could hear the two ants discussing something. What they were to do with him, probably.

"Just wait until he wakes up and then you can call all the agents you want. He's not going to kill us. I mean, look at him!"

"Since when are you so loyal to our enemy?"

"I'm not loyal, Bruce. I'm just saying he looks completely harmless," one of the voices went on. 'Harmless' made Loki almost clench his fists in anger. He would show the human how harmless he was. He assumed it was the Iron Man, and the other mortal was 'Bruce', who was widely known as the Hulk. "And... I'm curious about why he came here," Stark continued.

"I'm just happy the other guy didn't... you know. I'm not going to ask questions as to why he didn't kill us and declare this a lucky accident."

One of the men sighed loudly and a little over exaggeratedly, in Loki's opinion. "Fine. But why isn't he locked up?" he prompted.

Bruce stated, "He's got some spell on him." He stayed silent for a few heartbeats and then questioned his own argument, "That doesn't explain why they'd let their prisoner hop around on earth, possibly killing us, though." At least the two men had listened to Loki's explanation.

Stark grunted something inaudible and most likely profane and raised his voice, "Who says he's their prisoner? Who even says they're our friends, or allies?"

"Thor-"

Stark interrupted him. "Yeah, Thor is a decent man. That doesn't make his whole people decent, too."

Good point. Loki gave a quiet giggle and resisted the urge to hide his mouth behind his hand. Had he been drinking? Stark had some fairly interesting arguments. But he was still an ignorant mortal man who underestimated him, spells or no spells.

"Just give me a few minutes and then you can tell JARVIS to call S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers if you want," the Iron Man went on.

It was quiet for a couple seconds. Loki felt something pushing against his left foot and he had to contain the urge to kick away what was moving.

"Your puppy likes him. I think that probably supports my theory about him not planning on killing us," Stark continued, and Loki could hear him chuckling quietly.

The other man gave a frightened squeak. The mass by his foot was pulled away along with exclamations such as 'River, no!' and 'Don't go licking the bad guy's feet!' Loki couldn't suppress a shiver. Some Midgardian creature was licking his boots?

"Alright. But don't come complaining when you're dead," Bruce said then, and, from what Loki could hear, walked away.

**-x-**

He almost started to think Stark left without him noticing when he felt the pressure on the couch shift and his legs were pushed away.

"I know you're awake," the Iron Man said loudly and without any hesitation.

Loki stayed perfectly still and thought about his actions. He had no fear of the human, but with his magic gone, it would be foolish to think of himself as untouchable.

Not tensing up at Stark's voice seemed to take some of the mortal's confidence away and his next words were a blur. "Okay, so maybe you're not awake and I'm just talking to myself. Great, that's just great. JARVIS, is he awake?"

"I believe so, sir. Heartbeat and breathing are both faster than 10 minutes ago, and his eye movement suggests that he is in fact conscious."

That did startle Loki and he opened his eyes in a flash, determined to find the source of the knowing voice. He cursed the human's technology. He had heard it earlier, in Stark's workshop, and before he fainted. The realization of losing consciousness in front of the humans nearly sent blood rushing to his cheeks out of embarrassment. He shook his head as if he wanted to get rid of the thought. A couple of mortals shouldn't bother him this much.

Stark was sitting at the other end of the couch, looking lost in his own home. The Iron Man had taken off his suit of armor and he realized that was a bit of an insult to the trickster god. He must have looked incredibly weak for Stark to be sitting at his feet, vulnerable.

He sat up to find out he had been lying on the chair the two men were sitting on earlier. They must have moved him when he was unconscious. He attempted to stand up from the soft couch, cursing the humans for being such fools.

As soon as he was up on his legs, the world began to spin around him and he felt the blood rushing from his face. A strong sense of nausea overwhelmed Loki and he fell back into the chair, his head numb and hurting at the same time.

"Easy there, big bad wolf," Stark remarked with a quiet chuckle and leaned forward to shift Loki's legs in a way so that he did not look like the tangled and confused failure he was. He hissed at the human and turned away as much as was possible when one can't feel their shaking limbs anymore.

The mortal man shrugged and leaned back into the chair, semi-relaxed. Loki could see how tensed up the human truly was, albeit less scared than earlier. He did not know how to feel about that.

"Hah, you look even paler than usual," Stark noted, and Loki looked the other way, carefully keeping his face blank. "Why?" He asked, and it was clear that he was talking about why Loki had come to him for help.

Loki had to cough several times before his voice sounded a bit stronger. "I am running," he said quietly, frowning at his hands. Stark asked the same question as he did. Why _did_ he come here?

The human made a clicking noise with his tongue and huffed out a laugh. "You're not, you're sitting down." Stark smiled at him like he wanted to spell it out for the god, before Loki saw his brows furrowing. "Running... from what?"

"From an enemy."

"Can you stop with the three-word answers?"

Loki turned to face the questioning human. He was tempted to say 'Yes I can' just to mock Stark, but instead he lifted his eyebrows and crossed his legs more comfortably. "Running from one enemy right into the arms of another one," he said and shook his head at his own foolishness.

Stark nodded thoughtfully. "Who?" Well, the human certainly did not bother with long and complicated sentences.

"You've met him before, albeit indirectly," Loki replied and looked away from the human in front of him. "He was the leader behind mine and the Chitauri's attacks on your city. He also operated the Narrkil in your house." Loki felt vulnerable telling the human this, and he was angry at himself for giving in so easily. He told himself it just had been a while since he had talked to anyone properly.

"Narrkil?" Stark asked, seemingly determined to find out whatever he could.

"The Chitauri-creature the Other operated through," Loki said, testing his limbs and trying to stop his hands from shaking.

The human scratched his scruffy-looking chin and seemed to think about it. "Sounds German," he remarked.

Loki stared at the mortal man and wondered how he could be so casual about this. He had a definite lack of conscious, Loki decided. Not that he was one to talk.

"The Other? That's the one who was behind your attack?" Stark continued.

The trickster god shook his head while closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. His body was hurting everywhere and the sensation of being without magic started to make him angry and desperate. There was a limb missing from his body, or it at least felt like that. Incomplete.  
"The Other is a servant. He is under the rule of his master, a simple pawn in the game of your true enemy."

"Okay, so who is the 'true enemy'?" Loki imagined that while Stark said this he was making quotations in the air with his hands, like humans often do.

"Thanos," Loki said quietly, with his eyes still closed. "But do _not_ say his name."

"No saying his name? Like Voldemort?" Tony chuckled. Loki did not understand the joke.  
The weight on the chair shifted again and he opened his eyes to see Tony leaning in and examining his face. The deity growled at him and Stark immediately pulled back, asking the question Loki was most curious about as well. "So, why did they – he, she, it, whatever – come to my workshop?"

Loki straightened his back and reached out towards Stark's chest, observing him as his instincts probably told him to flee or attack in defense. His stretched finger reached the glowing thing in Stark's chest and he tapped it thoughtfully, for a moment forgetting the pain he was in and just wanting to find out what the little shield in the human's chest was. Loki could feel the energy and power buzzing underneath his fingertip and wondered if he could borrow some of it.

"They want my arc reactor?" Stark asked after a while, probably referring to the cold thing inside his chest.

"I assume they do. I do not know what for or how they found out what it was, but it's the only thing that seems logical to me." Loki replied whilst leaning back and folding his hands in his lap.

The Iron Man nodded and opened his mouth for what Loki assumed would be yet another question when he was promptly interrupted.

**-x-**

"The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are hacking into my database, sir," a voice echoed through the room.

Stark's eyes widened and he pulled up a screen-like thing and started tapping it furiously when Bruce stormed in.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. got wind of Loki being here. I swear to god, Tony, I didn't call anyone. I wasn't even planning on letting anyone know he was here until you said I…" His voice trailed off upon finding the two men sitting on the couch together.

Loki stared him in the eye and mentally dared him to mention it. He was not in the mood for any mockery and he even doubted he would be conscious for much longer now. Exhaustion was tugging on his mind, his body was begging him to get some rest.

"Er, so he's awake," Bruce breathed out. It seemed to wake Stark from his trance and the mortal jumped up, raking a hand through his hair.

"Alright," Stark said, staring at Loki. He knew the mortal was considering his options. Was he to hand Loki over to S.H.I.E.L.D.? The trickster god wanted to disappear off to a distant place or at least stand up, but his body was too weak. He figured he had the energy for one more teleport, but that would require using every bit of magic he still had left. He'd rather use that as his last option.

The two humans were both staring at Loki now. "We've got to hide you," Stark stated, obviously making a decision. "JARVIS, delete all recordings regarding Loki. Now."

Loki stared at the human with wide eyes, in the exact same manner Bruce was staring at the Iron Man. Why would he do _that_? Loki had expected him to hand him over, or maybe push him out of a window. It's what Loki would have done.

"Done, sir."

"Oh, get over yourselves," Stark muttered while pacing around and waving off their stares.

"Fury and his agents have entered the building," JARVIS updated them. Loki wanted to find out how it worked as well.

"So, we hide you," the human repeated himself, still tapping things on the blue screen.

"Are you sure you want to do that? He's, uh, the enemy," Bruce sputtered. "No offence," he said, looking at Loki.

"None taken."

Stark nodded. "He's apparently not the worst enemy we're facing right now. I suppose you can compare this with having to choose between handing over a young thief or putting a serial killer in jail."

"That was a bit offensive," Loki mumbled, his words slurred by his tired mouth.

"So he's an ally?" Bruce asked, his tone confused.

Loki closed his eyes after he'd seen Stark's shrug.

"Is he passing out again? I think he's passing out again." The god did not have the energy to find out who said it so he could strangle them.

The lift made a noise, alerting the men of who was about to join the party.

"Okay, okay, just disappear," Stark's voice said hastily. "Just, I don't know. Hop off."

"Energy?" Loki asked and opened his eyes, his body protesting against every movement he made.

The human that was hovering above him made a face and Loki could see the gears working in Stark's head. Then, quick and unexpected, the man grabbed hold of Loki's hand and pressed its palm against his chest, where his arc reactor was located. Stark looked pleased with his idea but surprised about himself.

Loki remembered what he'd wondered earlier. Did the arc possess enough energy for a teleport and if so, could he find a way to use some of it?

In the corner of his eye he could see the lift doors opening and he concentrated on finding his last bit of magic to run it through Stark's battery. The energy pulsated on the edge of his consciousness and he mentally took hold of it.

"What the hell is going on here?" a voice rang and the clicks of guns being loaded echoed in the room. Loki's mind was hurrying to fill his body with enough energy to get away.

Stark's jaw dropped as Loki's hands glowed with magic and the reality around them began to wrinkle, feeling the human's hand tightening in fear around his as he located the first place he could think of. The edges around him began to fade.

"No, don't! Get him!" the Director, Fury, yelled, and men began to run over to them, waving their guns at Loki.

"Oh no, not without me you don't," Stark gritted, and to Loki's surprise, disappeared together with him.


	4. On Top of the World

**Chapter Four**

**On Top of the World**

"What the..." Tony cursed, slowly regaining consciousness. He drew a sharp breath and opened his eyes. The air smelled of sand, and beneath him lay something kind of soft. For a terrifying moment he thought he woke back up in that horrible cave with Yinsen meaning that everything else had been a dream. But the air was damp here, and it was cold. Besides, he doubted that his mind was creative enough to come up with anything like that. Aliens? Please.  
He pressed himself up on his elbows, looking around, only to find out that there was nothing to see. The room was pitch black.

He moaned and rolled over while he tried to remember what happened. Did he just teleport? He must have. The last thing he knew were the agents waving their damned guns at Loki. He backed up until his back hit a wall. Said wall was roughly made of concrete, just like the sandy floor (he found out, after touching it a couple of times, feeling like an idiot). A room it was.

Oh, he realized. Loki.

He sat up quickly and the world spinned around him, needles poking at Tony's skull. Great, he really needed a headache like this now. Thank you, o mighty body.

Puffing and grunting he turned around hoping that the glow of his arc reactor could cast a light on his surroundings. Turning to his left he spotted the soft 'something' he had woken up on. He recognized the black hair, leather armour and somewhat fancy attributes.

Loki's body.

"Oh, no," he sputtered, dazed and still disoriented. "Do you always pass out like this? Do you maybe do it on schedule?" He asked Loki, crawling over and settling down next to the god who wasn't moving at all. "Don't you fucking dare be dead," he grunted. The man wasn't a medical wonder and he had no idea what to do if Loki was wounded, let alone dead. Tony knew he should be worrying about how to get out of here if his now partner-in-crime passed away but he was really just freaking out over Loki's still chest.

He leaned in and listened if Loki was still breathing. When the god's shallow breaths filled the silence, Tony found himself wanting to jump up and do a little dance. "Thank _fuck,_" he exclaimed. Maybe wiggle a little booty.

"I'm so glad you're not dead."

The lack of reaction didn't worsen Tony's mood at all. "We just teleported!" He gleefully said to no one in particular and he looked around enthusiastically, his mind racing with possibilities. "I could totally build a teleportation device thing. Or whatever that would be called. Dematerialize myself and reconstruct my exact atomic configuration somewhere else, right? With my technology and your magic..."

"I might need some of your voodoo when we get out of here, you know," he continued to ramble on to Loki. "I mean, you owe me. Don't you?" His voice echoed through the room and it all sounded a bit lonely suddenly. His overjoy began to wear off. After all, Tony was just sitting in a concrete box next to an unconscious god. He even woke up_ on_ Loki. Disturbed with his own thoughts, Tony rubbed his eyes. Couldn't this all be over now? He just wanted a good night of sleep. Actually, Tony thought he could manage sleeping in here. The darkness suddenly seemed less creepy and the idea of a few dreamless hours of unconsciousness seemed really appealing to him right now.

Not bothering to check his cellphone to see if the outside world could reach him here, he slumped down next to the god and he hoped Loki wouldn't wake up before he did. He didn't think the god incapable of cold-blooded murder and the idea of being unconscious next to the deity wasn't exactly appealing. Sleep deprivation however changed his mind and he drifted off in a comfortable state of what was hopefully a temporary coma.

**-x-**

A sharp poke at his side woke Tony up. He grunted and turned over, his body protesting at the hard floor beneath him. He drew a sharp breath and stretched out, trying to get comfortable again. The air tasted of sand and Tony remembered where he was. Whatever, he decided, a good night of sleep is a good night of sleep. Something about a gifted horse and all that.

Another eager poke, now between his ribs. "Wake up, Stark," Loki's voice said.

Okay fine, so Loki was up, and he was still alive. That had to mean something. He had the greatest rest in _years_ on this hard floor, and he was not about to give up the chance to get more of that.

"Mornin'," Tony said, his voice rough with sleep. With his eyes closed, he crawled further away from the god and layed back down, an arm behind his head. No thank you Loki, but there was some good comatose in this concrete box for him. He was already dozing off again. Loki was saying something and pushing his limbs around, but his brain just didn't register it anymore. He could make a new habit out of sleeping next to the god if it was always like this.

Tony thought he could have at least another 20 minutes of this satisfying sleep before Loki really put some effort into waking him up, but it really only felt like a few seconds. The god was yelling something at him when it suddenly went quiet. The silence was suspicious, but definitely better than the hysterical shouting.

Cold fingers on his chest and the turn of a hand, and before Tony realized it Loki had taken out his arc reactor.

The shock prevented him from moving for only a few seconds, and by then he already felt numb. He knew it was not because of lack of arc reactor, no, he could do without that for at least a few minutes, but because he trusted Loki enough to fall asleep right next to him. Which was clearly a mistake. He shakily gasped for the air he already had and it took him too long before he found his lips.

"What the hell?" Tony exclaimed, more of a complaint than a question. He pulled Loki's hand away from his chest and with the other he grabbed his arc reactor and fumbled it back inside the hole in his chest with trembling fingers. The god didn't protest, just stared in honest surprise. Tony screwed it back in, pushing himself up on his legs. He only stopped backing the fuck away when the back of his head hit a wall again. So the deity _did_ want him dead. That cleared a few things up.

Loki looked genuinely surprised and put his hands up in defence, or what looked like an apology. "I was not-"

"Yeah, what weren't you? Trying to kill me? Yep, no, that's okay. I do that _all_ the fucking time. Y'know, sometimes I take it out, just for kicks." His sarcasm was lost on Loki, so he just gave the god his best rhetorical glare.

"I believed I could observe it's substance for a few minutes. Supposedly return it before you became aware. I only found myself alarmed when you started shaking."

And then it hit Tony: Loki didn't know that it kept him alive. How could he have? Did he think the god read minds or something? Somehow that indeed seemed fairly plausible, what with Loki being a god and all. The Asgardian was probably just curious. Maybe. What did it really even matter.

Loki stood up and took a few steps towards Tony, who just started to feel apathetic about it all. He wasn't even remotely surprised when Loki sat down next to him and began to 'apologize'. "I swear, I was unaware." Tony snorted at the probably unintended rhyme and looked sideways at the god, who was staring at his arc reactor. Intensely. Like he expected it to grow limbs and strangle him. "What does it do?" the god then asked.

"Ah, finally. The million dollar question," Tony replied, smiling slightly, "it keeps me alive."

The look on Loki's face was priceless. Tony wished he could take a picture of it and hang it up against the wall. Seriously, these walls could need some cheering up.

The story behind the arc reactor darkened his thoughts, though, so the amusement Loki's face gave him quickly washed off. Tony stood up and stretched his legs before he'd start uncovering these memories. Loki was still frowning and staring up at him. So, Tony had just revealed his weakness to this man. He could just as well begin a whole speech about it, with a photo shoot and even little arc-reactor shaped cupcakes.

"So," Tony started, more out of curiosity then to break the silence, dragging a hand across the cold wall, "Where exactly are we?"

Loki waited a few seconds before he crossed his legs and sighed, as if his questions were so predictable. "In a, what you would call, bunker."

"Yeah, I got that part. But where exactly?"

"A few hundred meters underneath one of Midgard's deserts."

Tony opened his mouth and then closed it again. It was his turn to look like a fish on the land. But then again, nothing could ever surprise him again after having dealt with Loki.

_Dealt_ with Loki? He was _dealing_ with Loki, now? Sharing uncomfortable silences deep beneath the surface of the earth wasn't what one would call _dealing_, exactly.

In fact, the silence now seemed intimate, and the dark only made it worse.

He still stood with his back to Loki when his stomach gave a quiet grumble. Only it was not that quiet in the complete silence of the room, so it turned out more like a lion's roar.

"Hungry?"

_No, I stomach-sing in my free time. Was planning on joining a contest next month, _he wanted to reply, but instead nodded politely. His urge to give sarcastic comments certainly grows in Loki's presence. He turned around on his heels. "So, do you keep any food behind that glorious cape of yours?"

Loki gave him a sort of grin, and Tony supposed the god would've looked amused if he didn't look so damn strange with a smile on his face. Now it just looked creepy.

Tony cleared his throat and rubbed his arms to get rid of the goose bumps the ongoing cold were giving him. "Seriously, though, do you?"

"Do I what, Stark? Carry around entire loaves of bread in my pockets? Do you maybe want a bottle of wine, while you are at it?" Oohh, sassy. Look at who has a sense of humor. The two of them should start a talk show. 'Concrete box, starring Tony Stark and Loki the probable fugitive.'

"Then at least can you get me a hamburger or something?"

Loki stared at him and rolled his eyes. Seeing him doing every-day things like this felt strange. It was almost like the god was a normal person who doesn't roll around in blood and eat cookies of death for fun. "Not any time soon."

Prompting why not, Tony sat back down against the wall next to the god. It was a shame, he had really felt like having a hamburger. And a warm blanket. And a cup of hot coffee. Coffee _and_ a hamburger? That can't be good. Just a hamburger, then. A hot hamburger? His stomach roared again.

Loki interrupted his coffee-hamburger debate with a loud sigh, as if trying to point out how ridiculously obvious the answer to his questions were for the second time. "You realize I do not sit inside an enclosed space with you, unable to leave, because I like to," he says then, and Tony is so grateful for the light his arc reactor casts in to the darkness because the silence that followed would have been even more weird without the little chunk of blue light.

"Yeah, of course. I thought it was because I am just awesome company and that maybe you liked being stuck out here with me. Personally, I could have enjoyed it if _you _had thought of bringing a hamburger." Tony pulled his knees up to his chest for a little more warmth.

He could see from the corner of his eye that Loki had turned sideways to face Tony, and now sat leaning against the wall at his side, vaguely observing the human. "Had you not noticed I 'borrowed' energy from your..." He trailed off, seemingly forgotten what the little thing was called.

"Arc reactor," Tony ended the sentence for him, not turning around to face the god. "Yeah... no, I had noticed."

Noticed how Loki asked for his help, noticed how he had willingly shared the arc reactor with the god. Noticed how they were now dependant of each other.

"Hold up, '_unable to leave'_?"

"Not yet," Loki simply says, looking too relaxed for Tony's liking.

They both sat in silence for a while, thinking about this. At least that was what Tony assumed Loki was doing, because he had really no idea. For all he knew the god was thinking about what he ate for breakfast last morning. Do gods also eat corn flakes or frozen pizza?

A shiver ran over Tony's back and he couldn't really stop shaking when it ended. It was so fucking cold in here. Closing his eyes and rubbing his arms, he moved a little closer to Loki, trying to catch a bit of the god's body heat.

"Cold?" Loki asked, again with the one word questions. _Hungry? Cold? _Who was he sitting with, Loki or the Hulk?

"Yeah. I am cold. You'd think, because this is under a desert, it would be hot. But nope, that would be too easy. I don't know what attracts me most: freezing to death or starving to death. Besides, what happened to your fabulous vocabulary? Did you..." His voice trailed off when he noticed Loki unlocking the slots that kept his cape in place, before taking it off. The god stared at it for a moment and then somewhat hesitantly handed it to Tony.

Tony, who accepted the soft green velvet with the biggest smile on his face, swinging it around his shoulders, part of it hanging across his momentarily best friend's knees. He could kiss Loki. The ridiculously nice cape felt warm to the touch, and this place just got ten times better. The genuine grin still on his face, he turned to Loki to over-enthusiastically thank him for this lovely heat, when he caught the god staring at him. Loki was smiling fondly, something in his eyes Tony couldn't quite name. So instead of thanking the god, Tony yawned and draped part of the cape over Loki's body as well, even though the deity didn't look that cold.

He didn't even have the time to look at Loki's face before he suddenly, and without warning, fell asleep.

-x-x-x-x-

AN: I really planned on updating this earlier, but it was kyrilu's story Shapechangers in Winter that really motivated me to go on with a story where the characters actually listen when I'm crying at them.

A BIG AND LOVELY THANK YOU! for all your reviews and the many corrections I got; I know I'm far away from mastering the English language, and your comments really keep my motivated. (I'm looking at you, people that have commented so far, I want to throw chocolate and Frostiron-dolls at you to express my love.)

Chapter named after the song On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons, because it cheers me up and also because a certain bit of irony.


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